Ahhhh…. The trials and tribulations of back pain – perhaps the most elusive member of the “aches and pains” family. How it feels and where it comes from can vary drastically from person to person. It can be attributed to anything and everything from a...

By MICHAEL YAREMKO Minimize Injury Potential – Maximize Performance! When someone says that you have potential, they are really saying, “You could be great, but you aren’t right now.” Athletes typically don’t ever want to hear these words, especially goalies, but it...

Think you need a full weight rack for a serious arm day? Not so fast. There are lots of bicep exercises you can master using just your bodyweight and your TRX Suspension Trainer. Below, we’ve outlined five moves to help you power up your upper body. Whether you...

By MICHAEL YAREMKO Avoiding non-contact injuries with corrective exercise can help keep your hockey team on the ice and in the game. Anytime I mention that I am a hockey player, the first question I get is, “How come you still have all of your teeth?” Hockey is...

By Fabio Comana The Nordic combined, a combination of cross-country skiing and jumping was one of the original five sports at the first-ever Winter Olympics held in France in 1924. To this day, endurance sports like the biathlon, cross-country skiing and the Nordic...

By Nino MAGADDINO With increasing healthcare costs for businesses across the United States, the need for fitness and wellness professionals continues to grow. Fortunately, many businesses have decided to approve corporate fitness and wellness programs to lower...

By Kyle Stull Thoracic mobility is a key component of spinal rotation. See why optimal thoracic spine mobility is so important for functional movement. Thoracic mobility has become a buzzword over the last several years. This is likely due to the constant barrage of...

By John Berardi, Ph.D. “I’ll resume healthy eating after my vacation… once the baby is born… after Dad gets out of the hospital… January 1… Monday.” While this kind of “pause-button mentality” seems reasonable, it could be ruining your health and fitness. Here’s why,...

By BRIAN SUTTON, MA, MS, CSCS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES · Olympic lifts and their variations have long been used as a strengthening technique to enhance sports performance. Olympic lifts and their variations have long been used as a strengthening technique to enhance sports...

By STACEY PENNEY, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES, FNS Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) stretching technique that has been embraced throughout the fitness industry. This effective and simple to do technique delivers positive, feel good results. Foam rollers...

BY TONY AMBLER-WRIGHT January is a good time to check in with clients and find out if they identify more with Mr. Heat Miser or Mr. Snow Miser. Those who “never want to know a day that’s over 40 degrees” may be spending their spare time conquering moguls, slicing up...

By SCOTT KEPPEL Here we go, again. “It’s a new year and this is my year! I know I said that last year, and years in the past, but this time I mean it. No more yo-yo dieting, no more putting everyone else’s needs before mine, no more of this dead-end job, no more, no...

By CHRIS ECKLUND, MA, NASM-PES, CSCS, USAW, TP A high school athlete walks through our doors and we can see their strength, stability and biomechanical control deficits from their gait pattern. We’ve also had collegiate and professional athletes come to our facility...

By John Berardi, Ph.D. It’s a hot debate: Can personal trainers, health coaches, and other non-RD professionals give nutrition advice to their clients? You’ll be surprised (and relieved) to hear: Yes, to a degree. Here’s exactly what you’re allowed to say, and why...

By Amanda Vogel MA With 2018 now on our minds, it’s a good time to ponder how the fitness industry might change in the upcoming year and beyond. One thing’s certain: technology will continue to integrate with pretty much everything related to health and fitness. Where...

By Kyle Stull Foot pain can be one of the most debilitating types of pain and discomfort for both the average individual and the athlete alike. To put it simply, when your feet hurt, everything hurts. The foot is essentially the foundation of the body; it is the first...

BY NATALIE CUTLER “Insurance”: yikes. If you’re anything like me before I became a certified insurance advisor at Next Insurance , the word brings you anything from mild anxiety to extreme frustration. For me, the hardest part about working in the insurance industry...

By Chris Korfist Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, a big part of my week was getting up early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons. One of my favourites was “Super Friends” (my second favourite was “Land of the Lost”), especially the episodes with Bizarro, who was...

By Geoff Lecovin Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a combination of biological and mood disturbances typically occurring in the autumn and winter months. SAD is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, hypersomnia, carbohydrate cravings and weight gain....

By THOMAS F. WEST, PHD, LAT, ATC Our upper extremity is designed around our hands, our primary tool for manipulating objects in our environment. To this end, the shoulder complex provides the upper extremity with a wide range of motion, allowing us to position our...

By RICH FAHMY, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES Cueing is a vital skill that every fitness professional should master. It is essential for coaching proper technique and it creates a connection between you and your client, conveying how in-tune you are with their movement and...

By RICH FAHMY, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES The lunge is a versatile, simple and effective movement for lower body training. Various positions, planes of motion and speeds can all yield different training adaptations for the exerciser. Lunges are the gift that keeps on...

By BRIAN KENT, NASM-CPT, CES, PES Ah yes, the “Why are they doing that?” remark. We’ve all seen it. Somewhere in “Training Land”, a trainer is making a client do some movement that looks, well, rather ridiculous. It might even look so odd that the untrained eye or...

By MARTY MILLER, ATC, DHSC, NASM-CPT, CES, PES, MASTER INSTRUCTOR Core training has become a staple of almost all conditioning programs. Whether it is for high-level athletes, the weekend warrior, or your average fitness enthusiast, “working the core” tends to get a...

By DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA · Incidence of IT Band Syndrome The warm summer weather is the perfect setting for people to get outdoors and participate in the activities they enjoy. However, too much of a good thing can lead to overuse injuries. Iliotibial band...

By Wayne David Clark As fitness professionals we sometimes tend to neglect our own bodies in favour of helping others achieve their goals. We become so focussed on the needs of others that our own needs tend to be placed on the back burner. Having said that a lot of...

By AMANDA VOGEL, MA How do you professionally handle negative feedback? Receiving positive feedback from group exercise participants about your performance as a fitness instructor can make your day! It feels great to be praised and confirms that you’re on the right...

By AMANDA VOGEL, MA As a former group exercise manager, I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate countless fitness instructors teaching classes. One thing that always stood out was the association between an instructor’s use of verbal communication and the palpable energy...

by Carlo Filippone One question I’m frequently asked when I first meet someone is why I traded in my weightlifting belt for a kitchen apron. Many people seem to think that food, in any form, is the arch enemy of a professionally tailored body. Whether you’re a...

by Michael Rosengart, CPT, CES, CSCS In order to perform your best, you need to move well in a biomechanical way and a mobility practice will help you do exactly this. Can you get into the correct position on every exercise or drill? Do you have the ability to move...

AMANDA VOGEL, MA As stereotypes go, you could say group fitness is the domain of women. Men are of course welcome. It’s just that, at many facilities, they seem to overlook group fitness classes as a viable workout option. But why? One good guess is the way group...

By Jessica Mathews What to Look For in a Group Fitness Instructor Love to bust a move in Zumba? Look forward to unwinding on your mat in yoga? Get pumped up just thinking about breaking a sweat in boot camp? If you’re an avid group fitness goer you’ve probably noticed...

AMANDA VOGEL, MA · The easy part of being a fitness instructor or group trainer is welcoming regular participants into class each week. They’re familiar to us, and each other. We see them often enough to know a bit about them: perhaps their history with...

By GEOFF LECOVIN It’s been said that Americans have more food than any other country in the world and more diets to keep them from it. Diet and fitness trends come and go. Currently we are in a low-carb/high-fat craze, yet for many years it was high-carb/low-fat.As a...

By Kyle Stull Foam rolling, a form of self-myofascial release (SMR), hit the mainstream almost 15 years ago and is continuing to increase in popularity. While there are several ways to measure these popularity trends, an interesting approach is to look at the...

By TRX Editor FUNCTIONAL TRAINING Aren’t they the same thing as medicine balls?” asked the unassuming gym-goer on more than one occasion. Quite the contrary. As many of us know, these two classic pieces of functional training equipment have some similarities –...

By DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA We can all relate to our mothers telling us to “sit up” and “don’t slouch” when we were kids but never really took it to heart. Now research is indicating that mom actually did know best about posture. Considering how often we use...

By CHRISTINE ROMANI-RUBY Range of motion is an important part of any conditioning program. Increasing flexibility improves joint motion, while a decrease in flexibility results in less motion at the joint. Enhanced flexibility can provide many benefits, including a...

By NASM Boost your clients’ workout and fitness motivation with smart play- as simple as the roll of the dice. Playful exercise can be something as simple as a game of tag. While that’s fun, it probably won’t target all of the areas a client needs to work on. To do...

By Jared Meacham Personal trainers must look at the concept of physical fitness results through many different lenses. What amounts to optimal fitness for one client may not necessarily be the bee’s knees of fitness achievement for another. This blog post is a basic...

By Takeshi Hirata Our world has become more globalized, driven by technological advancement and changes in the economic landscape. There is a growing need to develop a set of skills that help you to successfully craft culturally-sensitive fitness services for the...

By Hanna Fillingham Sharon Stone was the definition of ageless beauty this week when attending the Women’s Choice Awards show in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. The 57-year-old, who was honoured the prestigious icon award for her humanitarian work, took to Instagram...

By Catherine Delaney When I first became a trainer, I was intimidated when it came to helping people with their nutrition. It sounds silly to admit it now because nutrition is arguably one the most important factors when it comes to getting results. Over time, I have...

By John Polley Blanket statements like this usually annoy me, but I really mean this one. I mean it because variety makes variety better and variety makes uniformity better too. Variety enhances mental, emotional, and physical outcomes and experiences, for all humans....

By Josh Elsesser Metabolic conditioning is more than just cardiorespiratory exercise. As a fitness professional, you need to be able to design a conditioning program for your clients that effectively addresses their unique physiology, as well as providing them the...

By Josh Elsesser A quick Google search for the topic of program design for weight loss provides well over 2 million results. Needless to say, there is a lot of information, and sometimes misinformation, on the “best” ways to lose weight. Known as the Law of...

by Sean Greely The dream of every entrepreneur is to create a profitable business that gives them the freedom to live the kind of life they want. But if your pricing and packaging aren’t right, you’ll never achieve that dream. There are two common mistakes that...

GEOFF LECOVIN In the garden and on the shelves, strawberries are the spotlight of spring. Easy to grow and good for you, see what these nutritional gems have to offer! Strawberries (Fragaria ananassa) are a bright red fruit with a juicy texture, characteristic aroma...

BRIAN ODDI, PH.D., CPT, NASM-PES, NASE-CSS There are many individuals who are striving to stay healthy and fit, however, they lack time to dedicate to a fitness program due to the busy demands of family, work, and pleasure. Speed training has shown to be a very...

By John Berardi and Brian St. Pierre Whether you’re a personal trainer, strength coach, nutritionist, or health coach, you’re going to get a ton of nutrition questions. Heck, even if you’re just really passionate about health and fitness, you’re probably getting...

By Mike Bracko Stretching and flexibility training have undergone dramatic changes in the fitness and sports training realm. Over the last ten to fifteen years more research has been published and subsequently applied to fitness and conditioning programs. Previously,...

By AMANDA VOGEL, MA With January 1 more than a month behind us, you might be noticing that some clients are slipping in their devotion to pursue their New Year’s health and fitness goals. As a personal trainer, you’re already skilled at holding clients accountable and...

By NASM You can navigate clients past common motivation blockers—here’s how. In comes the phone call, or maybe a text, your client—the one who did so well in the beginning—is getting in touch to say she won’t make her next session. Then it’s the one after that. When...

By Dana Bender People start practicing yoga for many different reasons. For some, it’s a desire to deepen their awareness of self and their physical body. For others, the reason is to begin a fitness program, with some choosing this practice to focus on the weight...

By Shannon Fable It’s time to refresh the idea of the comp training session if you want to land long term personal training clients. You, and your prospective clients, have to explore the real value behind the free session, beyond just the try before you buy...

By NASM Probably more widely debated than any other diet in scientific and consumer literature is the high-protein/low carbohydrate diet. These plans have been a part of diet lexicon since the mid-1800s, with William Banting’s Letter on Corpulence (2). Billed as the...

By NASM The NASM Performance Enhancement Specialization (PES) has provided the pathway to career success for personal trainers working with clients at every level of athletic performance. PES gives you the knowledge and tools to build individualised, sport-specific...

By SEAN CRISTEA A powerful vertical jump is often considered the epitome of athleticism. Many sports, such as basketball, volleyball, and some track and field events, require the athlete to perform at high levels in this movement [1]. However, many athletes find...

By The National Academy of Sports Medicine The NASM Performance Enhancement Specialization (NASM-PES) was developed to teach fitness professionals how to elevate an athlete’s training to achieve noticeable results while also decreasing the chance for injury. When...

By SHANNON FABLE At a time when the need for qualified fitness professionals is at an all-time high, it’s hard to understand why so many instructors and personal trainers struggle to fill classes or find clients. As an industry, we are trained first to analyze the...

By Dan Edwardes Parkour hHas involved quadrupedal locomotion patterns, crawling drills, since its inception over 25 years ago. Anyone who has ever come to one of our classes,workshops or events will be familiar with just how challenging, demanding and sophisticated...

By Andrew Mills As fitness professionals and sports enthusiasts, we know how devastating an ACL injury can be for an athlete, both professional and recreational. Discover how the NASM Corrective Exercise Continuum can be used to help prevent this potentially career...

By Angie Mille MS There are few training tools in the fitness mainstream that pique interest and create more discussion than the kettlebell. For some, an intimidating ball of iron, for others a versatile piece of equipment that with proper training can transform your...

By TRX Believe it or not, ski season is right around the corner. We know, we know – your beach towel is still in the hamper, your swimsuit has barely dried, and although you might not actually click/strap in for another 30-40 days, it’s important to begin...

By National Acadamy of Sports Medicine As a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), it’s important to realise that just about every client you work with could be susceptible to common injuries and ailments, ranging from low-back pain to ACL tears to shoulder pain. The...

Almost every person has some sort of muscular dysfunction or imbalance that can lead to pain and injury. The NASM Corrective Exercise Specialization (CES) delivers a proven method that reduces dysfunction and helps people move, feel and live better. The CES is...

by Sean Greeley One bad month… sales are down. Another bad month… revenue is still dropping. A few clients stop working with you. You have to fire an underperforming staff member (or they quit). Your marketing isn’t driving the number of new prospects needed through...

When stress, anxiety and fatigue combine, the body reacts by tightly contracting the muscles. Eventually, bands or knots form in muscle tissue that will not release on their own. These painfully tight spots are called trigger points. Trigger points can refer pain to...

by Leigh Weingus, mbg Yoga & Fitness Editor If you’ve never run a race before—whether it’s a 5K, 10K, or full-on marathon—it can be intimidating. It can also be really hard to know where to start. Maybe you’re following a training plan or...

By AMANDA VOGEL, MA It’s possible to build a strong client base via social media, but like any type of fitness marketing, it requires time and a little strategizing. Here are five ways to get more clients to meet you on social while also attracting new prospects...

By NASM Fatigue might feel as if it begins in the body, but the mind plays a key role. Though we tend to blame our bodies for fatigue, the brain actually sets the pace of energy use and holds a little energy in reserve. Here are a few ways to help clients tap that...

By KATHY KUENZER While there may be disagreement about how long the Chinese have practiced the martial art of tai chi—2,500 years or 400?—there is little dispute that in its current form, it makes practitioners feel healthier. Tai chi was originally a form of Chinese...

Yes, they can — with proper training and some important caveats. By John Berardi, Ph.D. It’s a hot debate: Can personal trainers, health coaches, and other non-RD professionals give nutrition advice to their clients? You’ll be surprised (and relieved) to hear: Yes, to...

By Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE Ketogenic diets have become incredibly popular. Early research suggests this high-fat, very low-carb diet may benefit several health conditions. Although some of the evidence is from case studies and animal research, results from human...

by Juliet Kaska Workout burnout is a common problem for the avid exerciser. Effects can be as simple as lethargy or not seeing results and as serious as severe injury and organ failure. In other words, we should not take burnout lightly—and we should take the warning...

BY KENNETH MILLER, MS Got Power? Training for power has been underrepresented, or at least misrepresented, for its benefit and application in life. When we’re younger we take for granted our ability to sprint after a ball, jump over a fence, or evade the person who is...

By DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA · AUGUST 23, 2016 Assessing this full body movement provides a foundation for designing a client’s exercise program. See how to use the results of a squat assessment to incorporate corrective exercise strategies and potentially lower...

DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA The ability to perform a squat or partial squat is an essential primal movement in life we must all be able to do, whether you are 8 or 80 years old. When we think of a squat, most of us associate the move with weight training or a...

By Fabio Comana. Despite research dating back over 30 years, several misconceptions surrounding lactic acid (lactate) still exist amongst fitness practitioners and the general public (1). Common misconceptions include that it was considered a primary cause of fatigue...

By DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA The economic impact of low back pain (LBP) is greater than $100 billion per year and causes more disability globally than any other condition (1,2). It is the most common cause of activity limitation in adults aged 45 and younger and...

by EMILY BAILEY Can you be a vegetarian or vegan athlete and meet your protein needs? It is an outdated myth that it is difficult to meet protein requirements from plant sources. Choosing your individual approach to eating needs to fit your lifestyle, whether that’s...

By DAVID CRUZ, DC, CSCS, FMS, SFMA Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries among physically active people accounting for an estimated 23,000 sprains — daily –that are attributed to athletic activity. (1) Basketball players suffer the highest incidence rate...

Louise Grant discusses how pre-habilitation can help clients about to undergo hip surgery. As chartered physiotherapist, I have a specific interest in hip patients and prehabilitation generally. Prehabilitation means analysing an individual’s posture, movement...

by Ian O’Dwyer | Date Released : 17 May 2016 I recently presented four days with Tom Myers of Anatomy Trains, in Sydney (AU) and Auckland (NZ). Our workshops were directed at 1) merging the power of “hands on” and movement, 2) identifying and enhancing...

Outside of athletic endeavors, people will work with a coach (or trainer, or whatever title you use) for any number of reasons, all of which boil down to one thing: you bring value to their lives, says Steve Rast. Not many things are more professionally satisfying...

By LAUREL VAN DEN CLINE Sitting up tall is a hard habit to learn. If you tend to round forward, a variety of postural issues can affect your musculoskeletal system, as seen with upper crossed syndrome. Whether you are sitting at a desk, driving your car, or texting on...